APRENDAMOS

LEARNING THROUGH PLAY BY MARIAM SHOUMAN

November 2012 | Volume 2, Issue 2

LEARNING THROUGH PLAY NEWSLETTER PAGE 1

Art Sense

If your kids are ready to roll up their sleeves and dive

into art, Ashley Tierney’s Wednesday morning Art Sense

classes may be just the thing they’ve been waiting for.

Ashley laughingly explains, “Seems like we do all the

messier stuff here – we are working on the pre-school

skills that maybe the kids don’t do often at home.”

The class currently has five students attending, but can

take up to eight and is held weekly for 48 minutes a

session for six weeks. While all the kids seemed ready

to get busy with the various art projects, the program

is literacy based, which means that Ashley starts the

lesson with a book and then builds the projects around

the theme of the book. Last week it was all about The

Very Hungry Caterpillar, a favorite with all the kids

that provided lots of ideas to work with, making their

own butterfly fridge magnets, caterpillars out of

pompons, and stained glass butterflies.

Everyone getting in on the art project

Activities focus on building fine motor skills, learning to

follow one- to two-step directions, and introducing the

kids to different media including clay, painting, glue,

and other sensory materials. Ashley builds on her

background as a developmental specialist with a

master’s in art education to make the most of the

learning opportunities provided to the kids every week.

One activity this week focused on weaving paper strips

into slots in a paper snail – providing opportunities for

each child’s therapist and parent to work on hand over

hand and the concepts of “over” and “under.”

Children in the class should be two or older or

have the typical skills of a two year old. Parents

interested in getting their children involved

should contact their developmental specialist for

more information. ●

Parents and kids enjoying the story

Note for Our Staff Just a reminder for Aprendamos staff that if you carry Colonial Accident Insurance, please submit a claim for every incident!

Giving Thanks For a fun and easy Thanksgiving activity,

help your child trace his hand on a piece of

colored paper and then write the things he’s

thankful for on each of the fingers – literally

counting his blessings! You can decorate like

a turkey with the thumb for a head and the

fingers for feathers.●

seemed beneficial in some cases, mentioning that kids

often tend to gravitate toward him when at a daycare or

in other settings. Many of his families have single

mothers or stay-at-home dads who really seem

comfortable having him around. He smiles, “Actually, I

have only had one kid who was afraid of me due to my

voice.”

Kids with behavior problems are Jorge’s favorites. “I like

to meet the child and try to figure out what might be

wrong and work on it - then see the change.” Including a

family therapist in the case or determining whether the

behavior is due to sensory regulation are some of the

strategies he adopts in his role as family service

coordinator. Jorge has seen dramatic changes, such as a

child who went from not being able to play for five

seconds to being able to play with Play-Doh for close to

an hour.

Jorge feels that follow-through is an important part of

his job because it helps him develop a trusting

relationship with his families. He relates, “One of my

favorite activities is cooking. The family and I decide on

ingredients for the following visit and I make sure to

bring them. If I don’t bring what I planned to bring, I

would feel like I’m letting the family down, and thus

lose their trust.”

If he could give one piece of advice to parents of

children in early intervention, it would be to pay

attention to what the therapists are doing and their

suggestions. He tries to get the parents involved by

explaining everything that he is doing with the child and

its purpose. He feels that ultimately, parents are the

ones who are with the child most of the time and they

have more opportunities to help their child learn.

Therefore, he advises, “Follow up on strategies given to

you by your team.” ●

Spotlight on Staff

Aprendamos

Phone: (575) 526-6682

Fax: (575) 523-7254

Toll free: 1-866-796-KIDS (5347)

Las Cruces Office:

301 Perkins Drive, Suite B

Las Cruces, NM 88005

Find us on the Web!

See us at: www.aitkids.com

LEARNING THROUGH PLAY NEWSLETTER PAGE 2

For Jorge Rodarte, going into the field of early

intervention was a natural process springing from his

work as an intern at the district attorney’s office.

Jorge explains, “After working with adults in

trouble, I realized that it would be better to help

people early on in life.”

Jorge works exclusively with the Family Infant

Toddler program and really enjoys getting to know

the families assigned to him. Jorge stated, “Every

time you meet a new family it’s like encountering a

new quest. Maybe you’ll find challenges, but those

are what keep my job interesting. I love helping

children and their families with their challenges and

am glad to join them in their successes.”

Currently handling 24 families, Jorge finds his job

fun because he gets to play with kids, but

challenging due to deadlines and situations in which

he has to make some difficult decisions. Jorge

explains, “I find it difficult when I meet a family in

need of something that I can’t provide.” One

example that he gives is being invited to kids’

birthday parties. “Since attending these parties

might not fit in my schedule, what I like to do is

organize a visit with the other therapist(s) and bring

cake and ice cream to enjoy.”

When you look through the lists of developmental

specialists, you realize that Jorge is one of only a

few men. He says, “When I first started, I thought

being a male would be a problem due to not having a

womanly touch.” He later realized that it actually

Jorge Rodarte, family service coordinator and developmental specialist at Aprendamos